furniture, and the trumpet-blowing cherubs
the German paper-hanger had put on our
parlor ceiling.

When Ambrosch came to town, however,
he came alone, and though he put his horses
in our barn, he would never stay for dinner,
or tell us anything about his mother and sis-
ters. If we ran out and questioned him as
he was slipping through the yard, he would
merely work his shoulders about in his coat
and say, "They all right, I guess."

Mrs. Steavens, who now lived on our farm,
grew as fond of Antonia as we had been, and
always brought us news of her. All through
the wheat season, she told us, Ambrosch hired
his sister out like a man, and she went from
farm to farm, binding sheaves or working with
the thrashers. The farmers liked her and were
kind to her; said they would rather have her
for a hand than Ambrosch. When fall came
she was to husk corn for the neighbors until
Christmas, as she had done the year before;
but grandmother saved her from this by get-
ting her a place to work with our neigh-
bors, the Harlings.

[[167]]

p166 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p167w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p168

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